Haley Barbour

Haley Barbour is the Republican Governor of Mississippi. He was formerly a tobacco industry lobbyist based in Washington, D.C. His lobbying firm made $17,150/month plus expenses from R.J. Reynolds in 2000.

Barbour won the Mississippi gubernatorial election on November 4, 2003, in part on a pledge to keep Mississippi's state flag design intact, which contains a miniature representation of the Confederate battle flag.

While campaigning, he also appeared at a fund-raiser sponsored by the Conservative Citizen's Council. The CCC is a modern-day version of the White Citizen's Councils that fought racial integration throughout the South in the 1950s and 60s.

Since his election Barbour has championed tort reform, which he describes on his website as a "fight against lawsuit abuse", through the passage of the Tort Reform Act of 2004.

Barbour's background
Barbour was the Director of the White House Office of Political Affairs for two years during the term of President Ronald Reagan.

Between 1993 and January 1997 Barbour was the Chairman of the Republican National Committee and has strong ties to both George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.

In 1991 he founded and, until 1999, was the Chair and CEO of Barbour Griffith & Rogers. According to Barbour, the firm was sold to the Interpublic Group of Companies in 1999. Part of the sale deal was that the name remain the same even though Barbour no longer had a financial stake in the company.

"In 2000 Haley chaired the Bush for President Campaign Advisory Committee in Washington, D.C. He was one of ten members of Governor Bush’s National Presidential Exploratory Committee in 1999," a biographical note states.

Racial controversy, 2011
In February 2011, BGR founder Barbour refused to publicly denounce a Mississippi license plate idea proposed by the white supremacist group, "Mississippi Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans". The license plate would honor Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was "a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army and is believed to be one of the earliest members of (and first "Grand Wizard" to) the white supremacist group Ku Klux Klan."

Immigration policy position
In August, 2001 the Embassy of Mexico retain Barbour's services to work on legislation that would provide a path to citizenship for foreigners living illegally in the United States (what immigration reform opponents call "amnesty).

Afghanistan war
In March, 2011, ten years into the U.S. war in Afghanistan, Barbour said he would consider reducing the number of U.S. troops in that country.

Barbour on climate change
In August 2001 Judy Pasternak reported in the Los Angeles Times that while working as a lobbyist for electricity generators on March 1, 2001 Barbour wrote to Dick Cheney urging the Bush administration to reverse its promise to restrict carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

"A moment of truth is arriving," Barbour wrote. "Clinton-Gore policies meant less energy and more expensive energy. Most Americans thought Bush-Cheney would mean more energy, and more affordable energy," he wrote.

"The question is whether environmental policy still prevails over energy policy with Bush-Cheney, as it did with Clinton-Gore," Barbour wrote in the two-page memo.

Associated Press reported that Barbour wrote that "he was 'demurring' on the idea of whether regulating CO2 emissions was 'eco-extremism.'" "We must ask, do environmental initiatives, which would greatly exacerbate the energy problems, trump good energy policy, which the country has lacked for eight years?" he wrote.

Comments on Hurricane Katrina

 * "Governor Haley Barbour and U.S. Senator Thad Cochran," MEMA Press Conference, August 31, 2005.
 * John Aravosis, "Gov. Haley Barbour Just Lied On National TV," AMERICAblog, September 1, 2005.

Contact details
Official website: http://www.governorbarbour.com/ Campaign website: http://www.haleybarbour.com/

Related SourceWatch articles

 * BGR Holdings LLC
 * Climate change and Hurricane Katrina
 * Climate change and hurricanes

External Resources
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 * See how you compare to Haley Barbour

External articles

 * Latest news about Governor Haley Barbour.
 * Official profile: Governor Haley Barbour.
 * Bill Moyers and David Brancaccio, Transcript: Now with Bill Moyers, PBS, July 16, 2004.
 * Wayne Slater, "Energy Firms Buy Bush Favors, Critics Say," Dallas Morning News (Common Dreams), August 30, 2004.
 * Michael Tomasky, "The Domestic Bolton: Opposition to the UN nominee has centered on his international record. But it’s his history as a party hack that’s the real story," The American Prospect, March 21, 2005.
 * Mark Leibovich, "Buddy Story," Washington Post, October 10, 2005.
 * Donna Ladd, "Haley's Unholy Alliance. Barbour Client Indicted in Nursing Home, Delay Scheme," Jackson Free Press, October 18, 2005.
 * Larry Margasak, "Miss. Governor Helped Implicated Firm," Associated Press (ABC News), April 28, 2006. re 2002 Election NH "Phone Jamming" Case
 * Paul Kiel, "Barbour Had Controlling Interest in Phone Jamming Firm," TPMmuckraker, May 3, 2006.
 * "Giuliani: Corruption-Laden Haley Barbour ‘On The Top Of Everybody’s List’ For VP," Think Progress, September 5, 2007. re Rudolph W. Giuliani
 * Noam Scheiber and Bradford Plumer, "Barbourism. The K Street evil genius who took over Mississippi," The New Republic, September 18, 2007 (September 24, 2007 issue).